DEFINING CHAOS by Mark Chao Introduction Chaos, according to the `Oxford English Dictionary' means:1. A gaping void, yawning gulf, chasm, or abyss.2. The `formless void' of primordial matter, the `great deep' or 'abyss' out of which the cosmos or order of the universe was evolved. There are a couple of additional definitions, but they areirrelevant to this discussion. When chaos is used in magic, thereis no place for con- fusion or disorder. Chaos is the creative principle behind all magic. When a magicalritual is performed, regardless of `tradition' or other variables inthe elements of performance, a magical energy is created and putinto motion to cause something to happen. In his book, `Sorcery asVirtual Mechanics', Stephen Mace cites a scientific precedent forthis creative principle. I quote: "To keep it simple, let us confine our example to just twoelectrons, the pointlike carriers of negative charge. Let us saythey are a part of the solar wind--beta particles, as itwere--streaming out from the sun at thousands of miles a second. Saythat these two came close enough that their negative chargesinteract, causing them to repel one another. How do they accomplishthis change in momentum? "According to quantum electrodynamics, they do it byexchanging a "virtual" photon. One electron spawns it, the otherabsorbs it, and so do they repel each other. The photon is "virtual"because it cannot be seen by an outside observer, being whollycontained in the interaction. But it is real enough, and theemission and absorbtion of virtual photons is how the electromagneticinteraction operates. "The question which is relevant to our purpose here is wheredoes the photon come from. It does not come out of one electronand lodge in the other, as if it were a bullet fired from onerock into another. The electrons themselves are unchanged, except fortheir momenta. Rather, the photon is created out of nothing by thestrain of the interaction. Accord- ing to current theory, when thetwo electrons come close their waveforms interact, either cancellingout or reinforcing one another. Waveforms are intimately tied tocharacteristics like electric charge, and we could thus expect thecharges on the two electrons to change. But electron charge does notvary; it is always 1.602 x (-19) coulombs. Instead the virtualphotons appear out of the vacuum and act to readjust the system. Thestress spawns them and by their creation is the stress resolved". Austin Spare understood this principle in regard to magicalphenomena long before scientists discovered photons or beganexperiments in the area of chaos science. Austin Osman Spare-some history Austin Spare was born at midnight, Dec. 31st, 1886 in a Londonsuburb called Snow Hill. His father was a London policeman, often onnight duty. Spare showed a natural talent for drawing at an early age, and in1901- 1904 left school to serve an apprenticeship in a stained-glassworks, but continued his education at Art College in Lambeth.In 1904 he won a scholarship to the Royal College of Art. In thatyear he also exhibited a picture in the Royal Academy for the firsttime. In 1905 he published his first book, `Earth Inferno'. It wasprimarily meant to be a book of drawings, but included commentariesthat showed some of his insight and spiritual leanings. John SingerSargent hailed him as a genius at age 17. At an unspecified timein his adolescence, Spare was initiated into a witch cult by asorceress named Mrs. Patterson, whom Spare referred to as his "secondmother". In 1908 he held an exhibition at Bruton Gallery. In 1910he spent a short time as a member of the Golden Dawn. Becomingdisenchanted with them, he later joined Crowley's ArgentiumAstrum. The association did not last long. Crowley was said tohave considered Spare to be a Black Magician. In 1909 Spare begancreation of the `Book of Pleasure'. In 1912 his reputation was growing rapidly in the art world. In1913 he published the `Book of Pleasure'. It is considered to be hismost important magical work, and includes detailed instructions forhis system of sigili- zation and the "death postures" that he is wellknown for. 1914-1918 he served as an official war artist. He wasposted to Egypt which had a great effect on him. In 1921, hepublished `Focus of Life', another book of drawings with his uniqueand magical commentaries. 1921-1924 Spare was at the height ofhis artistic success, then, in 1924 he published the `Anathemaof Zos', in which he effectively excommunicated himself from hisfalse and trendy artistic "friends" and benefactors. He returned toSouth London and obscurity to find the freedom to develop hisphilosophy, art and magic. In 1947 Spare met Kenneth Grant and became actively involved withother well-known occultists of the period. In 1948-1956 hebegan work on a definitive Grimoire of the Zos Kia Cultus, which isreferred to in his various writings. This is unfinished andbeing synthesized from Spare's papers by Kenneth Grant, who inheritedall of Spare's papers. Much of this information was included in`Images and Oracles of Austin Osman Spare' by Kenneth Grant, butthere are some unpublished works which Grant plans to publish aftercompletion of his Typhonian series. References for this section are mostly from Christopher Bray'sintroduc- tion to `The Collected Works of Austin Osman Spare' and from`Excess Spare', which is a compilation by The Temple Ov PsychicYouth of photocopied articles about Spare from various sources. The Magic of Austin Osman Spare Spare's art and magic were closely related. It is reputed thatthere are messages in his drawings about his magical philosophy.One particular picture of Mrs. Patterson has reportedly beenseen to move; the eyes opening and closing. Spare is best known forhis system of using sigils. Being an artist, he was very visuallyoriented. The system basically consists of writing down the desire,preferably in your own magical alphabet, eliminating all repeatedletters, then forming a design of the remaining single letters.The sigil must then be charged. There is a variety of specific ways todo this, but the key element is to achieve a state of "vacuity"which can be done through exhaustion, sexual release or several othermethods. This creates a `vacuum' or `void' much like the conditiondescribed in the introduction to this discussion, and it is filledwith the energy of the magician. The sigil, being now charged, mustbe forgotten so that the sub-conscious mind may work on it withoutthe distractons and dissipation of energy that the conscious mindis subject to. Spare recognized that magic comes from thesub-conscious mind of the magician, not some outside `spirits' or`gods'. Christopher Bray has this to say about Spare's methods in hisintro- duction to `The Collected Works of Austin Osman Spare': "So in his art and writing, Spare is putting us in the mood; orshowing by example what attitude we need to adopt to approach the`angle of depart- ure of consciousness' in order to enter theinfinite. What pitch of con- sciousness we need to gain success. "One must beware making dogma, for Spare went to great pains toexclude it as much as possible to achieve success in his magic;however a number of basic assumptions underpin chaos magic. "Chaos is the universal potential of creative force, which isconstantly engaged in trying to seep through the cracks of ourpersonal and collective realities. It is the power ofEvolution/Devolution. "Shamanism is innate within every one of us and can be tappedif we qualify by adjusting our perception/attitude and making ourbeing ready to accept the spontaneous. Achieving Gnosis, orhitting the `angle of departure of consciousness and time', is aknack rather than a skill." There are other methods to utilize the same concept that Spareexplains for us. Magicians since Spare have written about theirown methods and expantions of his method quite frequently in occultmagazines, mostly in Great Britain. Spare is certainly not thefirst person in history to practice this sort of magic, but heis the one who has dubbed it (appropriately), Chaos. Chaos since A.O.S. Austin Spare died May 15, 1956, but his magic did not die withhim. There have been select groups of magicians practicing versionsof Chaos ever since, especially in Northern England and Germany. Inthe late 1970's, Ray Sherwin was editor and publisher of amagazine called `The New Equinox.' Pete Carroll was a regularcontributor to the magazine, and together, due to dissatisfaction withthe magical scene in Britain at the time, they formed the`Illuminatos Of Thanateros.' They advertised in `New Equinox' and agroup formed. Part of the intention of the group was to have an Orderwhere degrees expressed attainment rather than authority, andhierarchy beyond just organizational requirements was non-existent. At some point, about 1986, Ray Sherwin "excommunicated himself"because he felt that the Order was slipping into the power structurethat he had intended to avoid with this group, and Pete Carrollbecame known as the leader of `The Pact.' The IOT continues to thriveand is identified as the only international Chaos organization todate. The IOT has also spread to America, and has headquarters inEncino, California and Atlanta, Georgia. There are smaller groups of Chaos practitioners, as well asindividuals practicing alone. Chaos since Spare has taken on alife of its own. It will always continue to grow, that is its nature.It was only natural that eventually the world of science wouldbegin to discover the physical principles underlying magic, althoughthe scientists who are making these discoveries still do not realizethat this is what they are doing. It is interesting that they havehad the wisdom to call it chaos science... Chaos Science Modern chaos science began in the 1960's when a handful ofopen-minded scientists with an eye for pattern realized that simplemathematical equa- tions fed into a computer could model patternsevery bit as irregular and "chaotic" as a waterfall. They were ableto apply this to weather patterns, coastlines, all sorts ofnatural phenomena. Particular equations would result in picturesresembling specific types of leaves, the possibilities wereincredible. Centers and institutes were founded to specialize in "non-linear dynamics" and "complex systems." Natural phenomena, likethe red spot of Jupiter, could now be understood. The commoncatch-terms that most people have heard by now; strange attractors,fractals, etc., are related to the study of turbulence in nature.There is not room to go into these subjects in depth here, and Irecommend that those who are interested in this subject read`Chaos: making a new science' by James Gleick and `TurbulentMirror' by John Briggs & F. David Peat. What we are concerned with here is how all this relates to magic.Many magicians, especially Chaos Magicians, have begun usingthese terms, "fractal" and "strange attractor", in their everydayconversations. Most of those who do this have some understanding ofthe relationship between magic and this area of science. To put itvery simply, a successful magical act causes an apparantly acausalresult. In studying turbulence, chaos scientists have realizedthat apparantly acausal phenomena in nature are not only thenorm, but are measurable by simple mathematical equations.Irregularity is the stuff life is made of. For example, in thestudy of heartbeat rhythms and brain-wave patterns, irregularpatterns are measured from normally functioning organs, whilesteady, regular patterns are a direct symptom of a heart attackabout to occur, or an epileptic fit. Referring back again to"virtual" photons, a properly executed magical release of energycreates a "wave form" (visible by Kirlian photography) around themagician causing turbulence in the aetheric space. Thisturbulence will likely cause a result, preferably as themagician has intended. Once the energy is released, control over thephenomena is out of the magician's hands, just as once theequation has been fed into the computer, the design follows the pathset for it. The scientists who are working in this area would scoff at thisexplana- tion, they have no idea that they are in the process ofdiscovering the physics behind magic. But then, many common placesciences of today, chemistry for example, were once considered tobe magic. Understanding this subject requires, besides some reading,a shift in thinking. We are trained from an early age to think inlinear terms, but nature and the chaos within it are non-linear,and therefore require non-linear thinking to be understood. Thissounds simple, yet it reminds me of a logic class I had in college. Wewere doing simple Aristotelian syllogisms. All we had to do was to puteveryday language into equation form. It sounds simple, and it is.However, it requires a non-linear thought process. During thatlesson over the space of a week, the class size dropped from 48to 9 students. The computer programmers were the first to drop out.Those of us who survived that section went on to earn high grades inthe class, but more importantly, found that we had achieved apermanent change in our thinking processes. Our lives werechanged by that one simple shift of perspective. Chaos science is still in the process of discovery, yet magicianshave been applying its principles for at least as long as they havebeen writing about magic. Once the principles of this science beginto take hold on the thinking process, the magician begins to noticeeverything from the fractal patterns in smoke rising from a cigaretteto the patterns of success and failure in magical workings, whichleads to an understanding of why it has succeeded or failed. Defining Chaos Magic Chaos is not in itself, a system or philosophy. It is rather anattitude that one applies to one's magic and philosophy. It is thebasis for all magic, as it is the primal creative force. AChaos Magician learns a variety of magical techniques, usually asmany as s/he can gain access to, but sees beyond the systems anddogmas to the physics behind the magical force and uses whatevermethods are appealing to him/herself. Chaos does not come with aspecific Grimoire or even a prescribed set of ethics. For thisreason, it has been dubbed "left hand path" by some who choose not tounderstand that which is beyond their own chosen path. There is noset of specific spells that are considered to be `Chaos Magicspells'. A Chaos Magician will use the same spells as those of otherpaths, or those of his/ her own making. Any and all methods andinformation are valid, the only requirement is that it works.Mastering the role of the sub-conscious mind in magical operations isthe crux of it, and the state called "vacuity" by Austin Osman Spareis the road to that end. Anyone who has participated in a successfulritual has experienced some degree of the `high' that this stateinduces. An understanding of the scientific principles behind magicdoes not necessarily require a college degree in physics (although itwouldn't hurt much, if the linear attitude drilled into the studentcould be by-passed), experience in magical results will bring thenecessary understanding. This series is directed toward the increasing numbers of people whohave been asking, "What is Chaos Magic?" It is very basic andby no means intended to be a complete explanation of any of theelements discussed. Many of the principles of magic must beself-discovered, my only intent here is to try to define and pulltogether the various elements associated with Chaos Magic into anintelligible whole. For those who wish to learn more about thissubject, I have prepared a suggested reading list for the lastsection, however, I must emphasize that there are always more sourcesthan any one person knows about, so do not limit yourself to thislist. Chaos has no limits... For Further Reading: `The Book Of Pleasure' by Austin Osman Spare `Anathema Of Zos' by Austin Osman Spare `A Book Of Satyrs' by Austin Osman Spare `Images and Oracles of Austin Osman Spare' by Kenneth Grant `The Early Work of A.O.S.' `Excess Spare' `Stations In Time' These three are collections available through TOPY. Available from most bookstores (at least by special order): `Chaos: making a new science' by James Gleick `Turbulent Mirror' by John Briggs & F. David Peat `Liber Null & Psychonaut' by Peter J. Carroll `Practical Sigil Magick' by Frater U.D. -oOo-
